"Having been an astronaut gives me a platform," she told The Star before the speech, "but I'd blow it if I just talked about the shuttle." Instead, she brings attention to what she sees as unacceptable disparities in the quality of health care in the U.S. and in Third World countries. "We talk about taking proper care of people, but we don't do it," she said. "We lack the commitment. . . . My message is about seeing possibilities and having the courage to work toward them." Astronaut Mae Jemison, the first Afro-American woman in space, served as a Peace Corps Medical Officer in Sierra Leone.

• Facts: The first black female astronaut in space has distinguished herself across a range of academic disciplines: She graduated high school at age 16 and holds degrees in chemical engineering and African-American studies from Stanford University and a doctorate in medicine from Cornell University. After graduating from medical school, she joined the Peace Corps, serving as a medical officer in the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Jemison, whose early role model was Lt. Uhura from TV's "Star Trek," is fluent in Russian, Swahili and Japanese. She teaches environmental studies at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

"Having been an astronaut gives me a platform," she told The Star before the speech, "but I'd blow it if I just talked about the shuttle."

Instead, she brings attention to what she sees as unacceptable disparities in the quality of health care in the U.S. and in Third World countries.

"We talk about taking proper care of people, but we don't do it," she said. "We lack the commitment. . . . My message is about seeing possibilities and having the courage to work toward them."

• Notable: In 1992, Jemison flew her first shuttle mission aboard Endeavor and did experiments in space. She took into space a Chicago Bulls jersey as a sentimental object.

• Quote: "I felt like I belonged right there in space. I realized I would feel comfortable anywhere in the universe -- because I belonged to and was a part of it, as much as any star, planet, asteroid, comet or nebula."

• On the Web: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/frontiers/jemison.html, NASA with links to chats with Jemison.

-- Star staff contributed to this story

When this story was posted in March 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

Peace Corps suspends program in BangladeshPeace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez announced the suspension of the Peace Corps program in Bangladesh on March 15. The safety and security of volunteers is the number one priority of the Peace Corps. Therefore, all Peace Corps volunteers serving in Bangladesh have safely left the country. More than 280 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Bangladesh since the program opened in November 1998. Latest: What other newspapers say.

Invitee re-assigned after inflammatory remarksThe Peace Corps has pulled the invitation to Derek Volkart to join the Morocco Training Program and offered him a position in the Pacific instead after officials read an article in which he stated that his decision to join the Peace Corps was in "response to our current fascist government." RPCV Lew Nash says that "If Derek Volkart spoke his mind as freely in Morocco about the Moroccan monarchy it could cause major problems for himself and other Peace Corps volunteers." Latest: The Ashland Daily Tidings has issued a request for all Peace Corps communications on the case.

Re-envision Peace CorpsNicholas J. Slabbert says in his article in the Harvard International Review that an imaginatively reinvented Peace Corps could powerfully promote US interests in a period when perceptions of American motives are increasingly relevant to global realignment. His study envisions a new role for the Peace Corps in five linked areas: (1) reinventing America's international profile via a new use of soft power; (2) moving from a war-defined, non-technological, reactive theory of peace to a theory of peace as a normal, proactive component of technologically advanced democracy; (3) reappraising Peace Corps as a national strategic asset whose value remains largely untapped; (4) Peace Corps as a model for the technological reinvention of government agencies for the 21st century; (5) redefining civil society as information technology society. Read the article and leave your comments.

March 1, 1961: Keeping Kennedy's PromiseOn March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency: "Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed--doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language. But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps--who works in a foreign land--will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace. "

Paid Vacations in the Third World?Retired diplomat Peter Rice has written a letter to the Wall Street Journal stating that Peace Corps "is really just a U.S. government program for paid vacations in the Third World." Director Vasquez has responded that "the small stipend volunteers receive during their two years of service is more than returned in the understanding fostered in communities throughout the world and here at home." What do RPCVs think?

RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace CorpsTimothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in dangerWhen the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

Read the stories and leave your comments.

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Indianapolis Star

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Sierra Leone; Staff; Science; Space

PCOL3212814

Add a Message

This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.